His mother just gave him a look at that, as if being the Counselor of magic might as well be Counselor of annoying sons. She was good at doing things like that.
“Well. That's something then.”
Sigh.
He was just going to leave after that, but was a little surprised when Sandra stepped forward towards his mother and bobbed her head a bit.
“I'd like to start negotiations for marriage, if possible. I'll send a go between…” Looking around she glanced at Tor. “I'll send Tor as my go between. I've heard that works. He got Princess Abbie engaged to the Prince. For your son Todd? Countier five Lairdgren?”
Ursala folded her arms and made a disgruntled noise.
“Hey, I was the one talking to him in there just now. Hmmm. No fair at all. How about, Tiera, would you be willing to act as my go between in this? Otherwise I'm short an agent on the ground.”
The girl looked excited for some reason.
“Sure, but I want to see a write up on what you have to offer. I mean, if I need to make a full pitch.” She looked at her mother who just nodded.
It was the tradition, so they kind of had to.
“Right, Sandra, one for me too. We'll have to race that into place, Ursala is a shrewd and canny adversary.” He smiled though. After all, Todd had already suggested that she'd do, so that would kind of set his mind in that direction.
It was Ali who confirmed the Postern plans though and made sure that everyone was invited.
“The whole family dear?” Laurali said, her voice soft and kind when speaking to her. It always was though.
“Oh, I meant all of Two Bends.” She dimpled at everyone.
Tor just nodded. Why not, they were, by and large, his friends too, weren't they? They could send transports for everyone that wanted to go, even arranging day trips if anyone wanted to sleep in their own bed at night. It was only for three days.
His ma nodded firmly, but suggested they let Tom the Mayor know as well. If it were a serious offer. That took another half hour, but was worth the effort. The man laughed at first, but had to keep bowing to Ursala and Trice, as well as Sandra. He skipped Ali for some reason, even though she was tall enough to be royal in his eyes. Probably because she was simply family now.
That was how things worked there.
Then Tor just had to get with half a dozen people at the school to arrange things and it would all be set. He hit the group first, and made sure to slip all of them some gold. Lyn got more, but he was her sponsor. Not that she needed it from him, having been making her own for months now. The coins in hand reminded him to check in with Ridley and Henry, since they were handling the schools funds for the students.
Henry pulled out a ledger and held it up so Tor could see it.
“The expenses out are a little higher than I thought they would be… We do have funds through the end of the month though. I… spent three gold a week on improving the food here. I know that isn't essential… The fine students, they complained a lot though. Is that OK?” The real question was did he have the right to do that, of course. Otherwise it could be considered theft of funds.
He did, of course. He was the man in charge of that and had really been rather frugal, considering the whining he’d probably had to put up with.
“That's good, nice call, I'll bring or at least have delivered another payment.”
Ridley didn't have much to add, since Henry did all the real work with the coins, he informed Tor with a wink. “I just get to yell at some entitles noble dinks every now and again. Keep them from acting like Master Tor owes them full upkeep and whores in town. I told them they could handle that for themselves. That ticked a few people off. I really just meant they could use their own coin, but things have been a little tight for some.” He chuckled, but didn't seem to be trying to make every other word into some sly sex thing. It just happened with him most of the time.
“Wait, we have whore in town? I don’t remember questioning any of them…” Was there a gap in his net? Did they need to rush the military back into place?
Ridley didn’t laugh for once.
“No, you did. A lot of the shop girls and waitresses make extra coin that way, especially on the holidays. It’s nothing official, but it helps keep their families fed, so no one minds much.”
“Oh.” That made sense then. Good. He was worried for a second.
Hardgrove was interested when Tor asked if Instructor Fines could join them, and pretty pleased when he realized the whole school was invited to the Capital.
The students, faculty and others that wanted to join them did have to declare they were coming first though, so they'd have enough space and food for them. Transports too.
Then he got Fines alone for an hour and covered everything. The man blanched, winced and even shook, as if cold, during one part, but in the end he agreed to see what he could do. After all, Tor represented the kingdom, and they were on war footing…
“Builders tend to be a little selfish though, you understand? Not you and not your working group, amazing what you've done with those children, by the way, but the other students, they might not respond as well.” He didn't seem pleased by the idea of trying to get some of the others to put more effort in.
That made Tor nod in return. He could see that. Most builders were a bit selfish, weren’t they?
“Well, you know, they should jump at the chance. These are some of the most interesting projects going right now and anyone getting them done stands to make a lot, if that's the goal. The communications network for the army alone is worth millions of golds and that's practically giving it away. If anyone wants to try, I can get them in to the palace to look at the one I have set up already. I can do it, or I could, but well…” He held out his hand, and the old man took it, looked abstract for a half minute then patted the back of it.
“For all intents and purposes you aren't alive, you know that don't you? I don't understand how you manage to move about at all. Healing and repairing the field damage, yes, but… This is bad. You live, so you must get it and it makes sense as to why you aren't just doing everything yourself… Don't. Dying now would be a waste of all you can do in the future.”
Tor laughed. It sounded pretty thin and a little breathy, but it was heartfelt.
“Not my plan at all. Hence letting everyone else do it all. So, if you could ask for me? Please Sir?” He tried to look hopeful, as if that would help. It kind of did, since the instructor told him he'd put the word around and see if anyone was interested at all.
“If not, I may just take a crack at it myself. After all, it is only copy work and if young children can do hundreds of units a day, I should be able to.” He ruffled his white beard, closer cropped now and tidy looking.
“If nothing else I can sneak it into your groups work.” His eyes sparkled.
“Yeah, I had that thought too. I think Lyn Cooper can do it, copy the central devices I mean. The hand-held’s aren't hard to do at all. I'm not sure about the others yet, but they need to be given a chance to see what they can do. All of them have it in them.”
Then almost everyone did, if they wanted it bad enough. Tor didn't add that though.
After he finished everything they all went back to the Capital, since there was all that party planning and nonsense to do. It was nearing dark already, so about six-thirty, maybe later. Trice got them back in good time. Casually she asked how old the next oldest brother in his family was. After Todd
“Terek is fifteen. Then Weasel, who turns twelve in a month. He likes blonds though, I think. Sara in particular.”
That got a smile from Ali and a baffled look from Ursala. Tor sat and just listened when his wife spoke.
“I have, from sources, meaning Countess Thomson, heard that Timon has actually put forth a letter of interest there. Very proper too. Just saying that the invitation is open for his fourteenth birthday, if she's interested and available then. It might be worth it for her to wait. He's younger than her, but has a lot of high powered connections, plus, he's going to be good looking when he's grown, which can't hurt. Tamerlane says that he's wicked smart too. He actually won a place at the Printer academy you know. As in took on over a thousand others in tests to see who got the spot. Otherwise he'd be going off to Lairdgren.”
